Are you an accidental project manager? The Working Woman!

If you read our last article and you are reading this article now good news and welcome back to a fun article.

In the last article we talked about the accidental project manager. We explained that the term was not offensive at all; if it were offensive, my project manager would have fired me a long time ago (imagine a funny face). She edited and approved this article after a lecture on my house duties with one task at a time (you will understand when you finish reading).

In this article, we will share with you a semi-personal message. We will joke a bit, we will use a personal analogy but the message is not personal, and it is not about my wife. The message about the inspiration of every working woman that can balance 20 things without a glitch.

I dedicated my first book, The Inheritance, a story about friendship, community, and project management to my lovely wife, the unofficial representative of the “personal” accidental project manager. In the acknowledgement of that book, I shared; “I know my wife doesn’t always believe me when I say this, but it’s true: a good part of the inspiration for this book comes from watching her. I joke with her and call her an accidental project manager.”

The primary objective of writing that book was to spread the use of project management thinking to a wider part of the professional community and reach out to those who are unfamiliar with this exciting domain. I view project management as a powerful giant that resides in each of us and an essential capability not only for work-related projects but life projects.

“How to discover that there is a giant residing inside each one of us regardless of our pursuits in life? How to awaken this giant from its deep sleep (hibernation), how to deal with this giant, tame it, refine it and utilize it in order to serve our personal and professional growth?” (Ajam, Giant, 2006)

Inspiration for the book and this article

Nabila, my wife, decided not to continue with a full-time career, even though she worked for years as an engineer with global companies in the United States and Europe. She worked hard as an engineer and did well, but with the birth of our first child she decided to be a stay-at-home mom.

When she made that choice, she did not realize that “careers” aren’t the only place where one can practice project management. She still does not think (consciously) that project management can be used for many things, large and small, personal and professional. As we shared in the previous article, we are not saying every person must be a trained project manager, but exposure to project management thinking often inspires people to apply the concepts to their personal lives.

Nabila, the unofficial representative of ‘Mom: The Ultimate Project Manager’

I watch with interest the personal and coordination skills that Nabila uses in running our life projects. I watch her maintain balance as she supports us in the company part-time and takes care of our children, supervises their school activities and birthday parties, and tracks our family’s activities. It makes a good project manager to keep her eye on the goals, and there are many small goals in everyone’s life. Isn’t that what project management is all about? How many of us could manage multiple projects effectively?

I am not trying to present my beautiful wife as a superwoman but isn’t she an example of almost every working woman and mother? What can we learn from that?

We often see projects as big and complicated things, but it is important to handle them, as Nabila likes to say, “one piece at a time.” Then what appears to be a large project is suddenly nothing more than various smaller pieces or goals (tasks). This may sound like an oversimplification, but isn’t the concept of Work Breakdown Structure all about subdividing a project into smaller, manageable pieces?

I am not a scientist and I do not know the science behind man vs. woman brains. However, I do recognize that it is perceived (maybe scientifically proven) that women are better at multi-tasking than men. What is a project if not a continual balancing act of numerous tasks? Sometimes I joke with Nabila and today was a reminder for me. When it is about home related matters, she can be cooking, watching TV, doing dishes during the commercial, chasing tasks for us at the company, while preparing for our boys studies and supervising their study time. She can still manage to strike a conversation with me or someone on the phone. Exceptional multi-tasking abilities.

The disaster is when it comes to work. A day or so ago, she said she wants to work professionally again (she did a few tasks for us now but wanted more). I told her I have a part time job that she should try out. She said “on one condition: one task at a time.” Then she said, “you can give me more tasks, but I will handle only one at a time.” Oops? Maybe science was wrong but I do not think so and I am not saying this to defend my wife because I am the opposite. At work, I can handle ten things in parallel but at home, one task at a time. It must be the genes!

Closure

We are not expecting that everyone will become a project manager or learn to manage large, complex projects. We do hope that readers will learn to handle their projects more effectively. We would like to see these “accidental project managers” improve on their success rates and reduce their mistakes.

For all the accidental project managers out in the world, welcome the opportunity to manage a project, and it may change your life. If the organization gives you the task without getting you ready, prepare on your own, seek the new knowledge, and best of all learn how to apply it.

We wish you an enjoyable and exciting journey of learning and growth.

To help you, SUKAD has published multiple books and e-books. The e-books published with Bookboon.com are available for you to download at NO COST.

This initial version of this article was originally published in September 2012. It is updated and republished in April 2015.

About Mounir Ajam

Mounir Ajam is eager to awaken the giant of project management within individuals, organizations, and nations! Mounir is a project management author, executive, consultant, and social entrepreneur. Mounir is open to further learning and knowledge sharing.He has global experience working on projects in the United States, Europe, South East Asia, West Asia, and Africa. He has been privileged to work on multiple small projects and mega projects.

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